Archive for September, 2012

There were several periods of rain on Saturday here in Hampton Roads, most of it on the light side. The rainfall was needed as we were running a deficit. It’s just unfortunate that the rain had to come on the weekend, especially with the Neptune Festival going on in Virginia Beach. About three quarters of an inch of rain fell in my Virginia Beach backyard on Saturday. The wet weather system has moved away making for a decent Sunday. Temperatures should be a little below normal. The current weather map this Sunday morning shows a low pressure system developing in the Gulf States. This system has produced a lot of rainfall in some areas down there. Eventually, this system will affect our region by sending moisture our way. In addition, the upper-level winds will become amplified due to a large trough developing to our west. The upper-level winds will be coming out of the southwest bringing moisture with them. Rain chances should increase as we head towards later Monday and Tuesday. It may still be unsettled on Wednesday. Temperatures will be trending upwards as the southerly flow takes hold…. Nadine is back to being a hurricane as it continues its very long journey northward far out in the North Atlantic. That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I was out of town last week so I was not able to post. The weather has been fairly quiet here in Hampton Roads and we are actually falling behind precipitation wise for the year. We do have the opportunity to catch up over the next several days. The first chance of rain will be today as we have a front that is stalling to our south. Waves of low pressure are expected to ride along the frontal boundary bringing a chance of showers today (Saturday). There is an area of rain showers getting ready to affect parts of the South-side and North Carolina this morning. There should be another opportunity for showers later on, too. Winds have switched around to a more northerly direction so the temperatures will be much cooler today. Also, there shouldn’t be much sun today which will help to keep it cooler than it’s been of late. We should see drier conditions on Sunday but another system will be developing to our southwest on Monday. This system is expected to bring us rain on Tuesday. It may remain unsettled into Wednesday. Another cold front should be affecting us later in the week… What about the tropics? Well, Nadine is still out there in the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Right now, it is strong tropical storm and it is heading N-NW at around 10 knots. There are no other areas of concern right now in the Atlantic Basin. As we are well past the peak of hurricane season, the chance of a tropical cyclone developing will slowly decrease each day. Hurricane season ends November 30th. I’ll have an update on Sunday.

As the headline states, the long stretch of pleasant weather is almost over. High pressure should keep us dry through Monday morning. Note that as of this writing there is a small area of rain heading east across VA but most computer models have this rain dissipating as it moves east. Rain chances will increase on Monday and especially Tuesday as a frontal system approaches the Mid-Atlantic States. Additional moisture is expected to get entrained into this system from the Gulf of Mexico. This will cause rainfall to be quite significant over some parts of Virginia and the surrounding states. The way it looks now, I think that most of the heavier rain will occur to our west and north. There could also be thunderstorms in some spots. We should clear out by Thursday… Backing up to today (Sunday), rip currents are again an issue as swells from Nadine are reaching the East Coast… The rest of the tropical Atlantic is quiet for now… I also wanted to remind you to read my Weather Facts where you will find interesting facts about the very interesting subject of meteorology. Included in the Weather Facts are twelve summaries of what to expect each month of the year here in Hampton Roads. Make sure you check those out. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The stretch of fantastic weather will continue through this weekend. Even though a cold front is moving through the area this morning, the only thing that you will notice is a change in wind direction (to the northwest and north) and an increase in wind speeds later today. High pressure will build in keeping us dry through early Monday. Then, a frontal system is expected to tap Gulf of Mexico moisture, which should result in a fairly good chance of showers (and possibly thunderstorms) on Tuesday. Swells from Hurricane Nadine, which is heading northeast out into the central North Atlantic, are expected to increase somewhat later today and this should result in better surfing conditions on Sunday. For swimmers, this could mean an increase in rip currents so please be cautious. The rest of the tropics is quiet for now.

It has been a very long time since forecasters can say the words cooler and much less humid. The weather over the next few days will be fantastic. It will be ideal for most outdoor activities. Keep in mind if you are going to the beach that the rip current risk is high and will only slowly improve later in the week. This is due to the two tropical cyclones (Leslie and Michael) far out in the Atlantic. Leslie should brush by Bermuda and Michael will probably not impact any land areas directly. The cold front that moved through Saturday night caused severe weather in parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. A confirmed tornado touched down in New York City and did some structural damage. No deaths or significant injuries were reported from this storm. The boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn were most impacted by this storm. A little less than a half inch of rain fell in my neighborhood. Note that some of the rain occurred even after the cold front moved offshore, which was predicted accurately by the National Weather Service. The rain associated with the frontal passage wasn’t even accompanied by thunder and lightning here in Va. Beach. As high pressure builds into the region over the next several days, we will see plenty of sunshine, slightly below normal temperatures and humidity levels that will be lower than they’ve been in quite a while. Getting back to the tropics, there is an area of disturbed weather far out in the eastern North Atlantic that bears watching but there is plenty of time to watch it. So, enjoy the great weather this week! We’ve endured a long hot and humid summer so this break will be very welcome.